PARK $2 Project (P2P)

It has been a fulfilling week for me. I got to know of 2 charity initiatives (Saturdays at Lengkok Bahru and Caring Singaporeans Outreach Group) and I tried to render some support for these 2 projects by appealing for volunteers and sponsorship. I am not affiliated to these 2 initiatives (don't want to steal their credits) but I thought their cause is meaningful and we should all support and encourage such initiatives to bring kindness and love to the less fortunate members of our society. I am also very touched by the generous and warm response from my friends, who rally to offer their time, effort and donations to help out in the events organized. I am very proud to have such kind friends like them, it further reinforce my belief that I have found the right people to join me in this lifelong kindness journey.

The past one month has been nothing short of exposure to the charity work for me and I come to realize that in order for any charity movement to be successful, there are two important components; volunteer support and funding. The volunteers are the vital resources to keep things running smoothly on the ground and the organizing committee will not able to complete a successful event without them. The second important resource for any charity projects is funding, this is the area I would like to further elaborate, especially after what I have observed for the past one month.

When I browse through the cases in "Keeping Hope Alive", I am reminded that this resource is clearly essential because the beneficiaries are in need of diapers, mattress, groceries, fridge, wheelchairs and money to pay outstanding bills. Fion and her team of volunteers have done an excellent job in helping to clean the houses of the beneficiaries, keeping them clear of bed bugs and stench. The rest is dependent on kind donors to sponsor the basic necessities that the beneficiaries need. Without them, the beneficiaries will continue to face challenges in their everyday lives.

I come to realize that funding is one big headache facing all the organizers of such charity drives. We can appeal and there will be generous friends who step out and donate in hundreds of dollars but I feel that this approach is not sustainable. How long can one consistently donate $200 every month to charity? I believe most of us belong to the middle income household and some of us are breadwinners working on a tight household budget. If we were to depend on a few person to donate in generous amount to help the beneficiaries, these donors would soon exhaust their own budget. However, if we can get many people to donate a small amount, say $2, at a minimum interval of once a month in between donations, I believe that is more sustainable in the long run. While some people may dismiss $2 as an insignificant amount, it can mean so much to the beneficiaries, it can buy a loaf of bread or some food to keep a person from starving. With the intended multiplier effect of many donors, we are looking at possibly $20, $200 or even $2000. I believe this amount would go a long way in providing happiness, hope and support for the needy families.

"PARK $2 Project (P2P)" aims to share with you what are the ongoing charitable initiatives and the support required from the organizers. Members of P2P can come together to leverage on the multiplier effect to do more with less (pool together a huge sum of donation through minimal contribution each by getting many friends involved) and help the less fortunate members of our society. On behalf of the organizers and beneficiaries, I thank you for your kindness and support for our group. Thank you for bringing joy, love and hope to the lives of the needy, poor and less fortunate friends of our society.

My Amazing Young Friend, Derek Lim

I was chatting with a new friend on FB last night and he shared with me that he has been volunteering for the past 2 years plus and enjoying every moment of this meaningful experience. We talked briefly about my kindness project and he also shared that he is trying to spread positivity and kindness on his FB wall. Out of curiosity, I went to check out his wall and I am really amazed by what he has been been doing for past 2 year plus, all the way back to 2011, when he first joined FB.

His wall is filled with positive and uplifting comments, articles, pictures that encourages happiness, kindness, positivity and compassion. The well wishes he shared for the world, the good things he has done for the less fortunate, the willingness to reach out to help another fellow human being, make me feel that he has so much love inside him. He really earns my respect for what he has done for this world and the people around him.

I found the most amazing discovery when I scrolled to the very end of his wall and saw his birthday, 22 May 1995. OMG! As of today, he is only 18 years old, which also means that he started proactively giving love to the people around him when he was 16 years or even younger. He may be so young, but his maturity and compassion level has far exceeded many peers of his age. I wondered how many good things I have done when I was a 16-year-old. The future is bright for him and if he can influence more of his peers to be like him, I am sure we are going to have a new generation of kind, caring and compassionate leaders.

I thought I should share some of the amazing comments I read on his wall:

"since christmas day is coming soon and our o level results are too.i thought that i should start giving a daily prayer and blessings to all my friends.i really wish you all have a great christmas week this week and i also pray that you all will get good results for o level.i know you all will do well.i hope this cheers somebody up.thx."
-Derek, Dec 2011

"Actually Derek, which course are you entering? I've seen you helping so many other people ranging from many different course yet I've not known yours. Lol."
-Troy Tay, March 2012

"Hope every one in polys will have a wonderful beginning to their studies in poly i also hope that everyone will have lots of happy moments in poly good luck to everyone"
- Derek, Apr 2012

"Since mother's day is tomorrow ,Happy Mother's Day to every mother in the world i hope that everyone's mother will be blessed with wonderful health,luck and love i hope that everyone's mother will be happy and will have a great day tomorrow for mother's day i hope that all of their wishes will come true and they will have more wonderful and sweet moments in their lives with their lovely family and friends i hope that every mother in the world will have lots of special,awesome and beautiful memories to gain in the future in their lives"
- Derek, May 2012

"Sometimes, the most happiest moments in our life is when we give that magical touch to another's person life which brightens up their lives even more"
- Derek, Oct 2012

"The best feeling in the world is to see someone smile"
- Derek, Nov 2012

"I wish that everyone who is feeling down or sad now, will cheer up i wish that everyone won't feel down or sad anymore and that they will be very happy and smiling ^^ i wish that everyone will have a wonderful and meaningful day today with lots of happiness and smiles ^^ Be Happy always ^^ jiayou to everyone in their projects,studies and assignments you can do it ^^ all the best ^^ "
- Derek, Jan 2013

"My wish is to have a chance to start a project to help the needy, children or elderly in the world!"
- Derek, Jun 2013

"Learn baking so that I can bake cupcakes, muffins and many more food for the needy elderly, children and families as well as for all of my friends so that they will be very happy hopefully, one day, I can learn how to bake"
- Derek, July 2013

"I volunteered to spent the whole afternoon with special needs kids and interact with them they are so so so sooooooooooooooo cuteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee and so funnnnnn! I love kids! ^^ we should respect everyone for who they are even if they have intellectually disabilities or any form of disabilities Today was so so so meaningful because not only I get to interact with them and make them happy! but ii also learnt the great importance of accepting people's differences and respecting who they are everybody is unique in their own ways! ^^ This puts a new belief in my life and encouraged me to spread more love and happiness to everyone around me!"
- Derek, Sep 2013

"Bless those who doesn't have a family or loved ones to spent time with during the holiday seasons (Christmas and New year) this year with lots and lots of happiness, love and smiles! Bless those who also have problems during this holiday seasons with lots and lots of happiness, love and smiles! I wish that all of them will be able to enjoy the holiday seasons a lot this year and that they will be very happy!"
- Derek, Dec 2013

Instead of wishing for an ipad, a new phone, a branded school bag or more allowance to indulge in fun, food and play, Derek is wishing for less suffering and more joy to the people around the world. Instead of spending time in arcade centers, movie theaters, Derek is spending his time volunteering in elderly homes, children homes and bringing joy to the beneficiaries. That says so much about the character of this young man. Well done, Derek Lim ! I am proud to have you as a friend and hearten to see so many amazing things you have done. I hope to meet you to do something meaningful together, someday. Cheers !

[Reflection] First Volunteer Activity after 7 years

Today is a day that I have been looking forward to because I am going to do something which I have procrastinated for a long time. More than 3 years ago, I signed up as a member under a Volunteer Portal called SG Cares, which provides ad hoc volunteering activities, for busy Singaporeans who are unable to commit to volunteering on a regular basis. However, a combination of timing mismatch, lack of interest from my circle of friends and procrastination meant that I have not signed up for a single activity under SG Cares since then. The reason I always give myself is the same, "There's something more important to do that particular day". Deep down, I have always missed the good old days of active volunteering during my undergrad studies.

One of the reason of setting up PARK and starting my kindness journey is to tell myself that if I can't find time or motivation to do volunteer work, let me do something meaningful instead of doing nothing at all. Therefore, I made it a point to start from the very basic, the very small things that I think I definitely can do. It is also another way of building momentum towards bigger things to come. When I open my heart to kindness, more opportunities start to pour into my life, starting from the simple acts of kindness that I can do everyday, to the volunteer opportunities with 'A Packet of Rice', 'Willing Hearts', 'Caring Singaporeans Outreach Group', 'Keeping Hope Alive' and Lovorth's '12 Days of Christmas' Project. Every opportunity gets me excited and motivated to be involved.

I am amazed by how far kindness has taken me and I believe I am only seeing the tip of the iceberg. In this journey, I met amazing people who have so much love for this world and have stepped out to make a difference for their cause. They are the ordinary people who do extraordinary things and their spirit of giving is truly inspirational. Looking back, if I had not started my journey of giving kindness, I guess I would still be procrastinating about when I am going to start my volunteering journey and soon, many 3 years would have passed and I achieved nothing, with a large part of my life gone. Whether I become an active volunteer (I hope I do) or not, the mission of embracing kindness and proactively giving kindness must go on.

It is my biggest wish that you, my friend, can join me in proactively giving kindness, because you will soon realize that it is one of the best thing you have ever done in your life. This journey will bring you happiness, satisfaction, meaning and purpose and I am sure you will not live to regret it. My humble advice is always to start small and over time, you can accomplish big things!

The Secrets of My Tuition Success

I take on tuition assignments every now and then, as a means to earn some pocket money when I was studying and to supplement my main income after I started working. There are two students who are worth mentioning because I helped improve their grades drastically from a 'F' grade to a decent 'A' or 'B' grade. I achieved this through my "teaching formula", which amazingly is still working despite teaching the two students 10 years apart. Today I will share with you this set of principles, in hope that you can help yourself/ your child achieve academic improvement, even without engaging a private tutor. This is my act of kindness to all Singaporean students/ parents :)


Background

Student A:
In year 2003, I took on a tuition assignment to coach a Sec 4 'O' Levels student, who was very weak in Pure Physics. I had less than half a year to help him prepare for his 'O' Levels as I only received the assignment around May/ June period, while his 'O' Levels exams were around October. His Physics grade eventually improved from a 'F9' (Mid Term Exams) grade to a 'B3' grade ('O' Levels Exams).

Student B:
Earlier this year (2013), I received an assignment to teach a Sec 4 'N(A)' Levels student, who was very weak in Combined Science (Physics/ Chemistry) and Maths. Similarly, I had less than half a year to prepare him for the 3 subjects because I took on the assignment around Mid April and his last paper was on Mid October. His grades improved from 'F9' for both subjects to 'A2' for Maths and 'B4' for Combined Science in his N(A) Levels Exams. Due to his good grades, he is allowed direct entry into Polytechnic and thus skipped a year of not requiring to study Secondary 5 and taking 'O' Levels.


Tuition Principles

My tuition formula is based on 5 key principles and they are as follow:

1. Motivation
The first guiding principle is motivation. A student without motivation for studying is akin to an employee doing a job that is not to his/ her interest. Without motivation, a student will just be going through motion and study for the sake of studying. I tried to instill motivation in my student by giving them encouragement when they do well and explaining to them the true purpose of education, that is to equip us with useful knowledge, that might be applicable in our everyday life. I highlight their strength, to make them feel confident of their abilities because they will be more motivated to study when they develop more self-confidence. At times when the student is losing motivation, I work with the parents to see how best we can motivate the child. The parents have spent years nurturing the child so they know best how to motivate their child. If the student is motivated to study and improve, half the battle is already won.

2. Foundation
This is the part which caused many students to struggle in the later part of their study curriculum, especially when they are nearing the major examinations. We must understand that any structure that is built upon a weak foundation is prone to collapse. Therefore, I always believe that we need to painstakingly build the foundation in any subjects before moving on to other things. I will not let my student practise assessment questions without getting their foundation right because it is a waste of time, they will not likely to do well for those questions too. For major examinations like 'O', 'N' or 'A' Levels, the curriculum usually spans across two years. Some students may just do enough to get pass the first year but when syllabus gets more difficult, they find themselves in a pool of doubts because their foundation in the subject is not strong. Besides engaging a private tutor to explain these concepts, students can do their due diligence in clarifying concepts that they are unclear with their school teachers.

3. Hard Work
Thomas Edison once said that "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. I strongly believe that hard work is the key to success in any area of work. No matter how smart a student can be, if he don't put in the effort to study, he will not score as well as he puts in the effort to study. This gets more true as we progress in our education journey (If you don't believe, try not studying for your modules in your undergrad studies). I always encourage my students to do two things; summary notes and mindmaps. I believe reading through the textbook is not enough to make you understand and remember. When you put the pen to the paper, you gain a better understanding because you break down paragraphs of text into point form. Also, these notes will be useful as it facilitates easy revision and reference the next time round (just imagine you have to comb through your thick textbook for reference or revision). Mindmap is a good way of giving a pictorial overview of a chapter and will be useful for last minute revision, especially hours before the examinations. You certainly don't want to carry your thick textbooks to examination venue, let alone browse through them for any last minute revision.

4. Plan Ahead
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. I advocate that my students have their own study timetable and it must be planned far ahead, say 2 months before a major examination like Prelims or the 'O' Levels. The study timetable will give a guide on what subjects to study, how many hours, what are the topics to study for a particular day. It can be vague as to what subjects to study on that day or it can be as detailed as the chapters to study, the time allocated for each chapter. The idea is to ensure that all subjects are covered and there is sufficient time allocated to study every subject. Planning ahead means that you do not leave everything to the last minute, which will add on to your stress if you find yourself having to cope with too many subjects. I did study plan from Secondary school all the way to University and they always give me the reassurance that things are under control.

5. Practice Makes Perfect
Once a student is motivated, has got the foundations right, the difference between passing and scoring lies in the amount of practice he/ she has. I like my students to finish all the papers in the Ten Years Series (TYS) at least once. It will be good if they can do a few more rounds. The student with the greatest determination to do well will stop at nothing, he/ she will do the TYS a few times, go through his/ her Prelims papers, try to practise other school Prelims papers and so on. The more a student practises, the more confident the student gets. Another key point would be to practise under exam condition, i.e. if the student is only allowed 2 hours for a paper, he will time himself and make sure that he stop writing after 2 hours. After which, he will be able to gauge if he is too fast (may be more prone to carelessness) or too slow (need to speed up else questions not attempted will get zero marks) and fine tune accordingly with more practice. I also encourage my students to bring a watch or a small clock to examination hall, so that he/ she can keep track of the time during the examinations.

There you have it, all the secrets of my tuition and academic success are listed above. I hope it is useful and can help you/ your child in your/ your child's education journey. If you have the gift of being a cut above the rest, please be generous to help your friends along. We don't have to keep everything to ourselves because that type of behavior will make us more selfish and will not make our world a better place. Helping your fellow friends with their studies is a way of reinforcing your concepts and you may even find out what you don't know as you guide someone along. The bottomline is, be kind and be generous to share your knowledge. What you achieve will definitely be more satisfying! 

The 7 Secrets of Happiness

One of my friends is writing a book featuring short stories of happiness and thus looking for people to share their thoughts and experience on attaining happiness in their everyday lives. These are the 7 pointers that I shared with her, based on my reflection and personal experience:

1. Count your blessings.
When we are thankful for what we are blessed with in life, we will be happy. On the other hand, people are unhappy because they are deprived of something, be it material possession like money or emotional attachment like friendship, love and kinship. For me, I am thankful for my family, my friends, my health, my job and even this very day that I am alive. I am thankful for being to be able to be born in Singapore where we are free from the natural disasters. I am thankful that my hard work in my studies are paid off with a stable and well paying job. I am thankful to be able to do many things I enjoy, which includes eating good food, watching nice movies and spending time with my family members. I am thankful that I am able to travel to other countries for holiday trips and learn more about different cultures and lifestyle. I am thankful to meet good people who inspire me to do more for this world. I am thankful for all the help, advice and guidance that people have given me throughout my life. I am thankful to be given the opportunities to make a difference to the lives of others. Lastly, I am thankful to be reminded once in a while on how blessed and fortunate a person I am.

2. Spreading happiness to others.
I have learned from a young age that bringing happiness to others is one of the best form of gaining happiness for myself. Whenever I am able to help someone or make someone happy, I feel happy too. It is this belief that propel in me to reaching out to help the less fortunate. Through participating in volunteer work during my studies, I learned that helping others can be a very meaningful and fulfilling thing to do. When I graduated from school, I am bogged down by my commitment in work and personal life. However, this does not mean that we stop helping or giving happiness to others. There are still many ways to give happiness to others and that is why I am advocating that we engage in acts of kindness for others. This is especially targeted to friends who want to do good but are very busy to participate in volunteer work. We can all engage in acts of kindness because an act of kindness is easy to do and does not take much time to complete. When we give kindness to people and make their day, we will feel the happiness inside us too. Helping others, making another person happy are all acts of kindness. Again, I am thankful to discover one of the secrets of happiness, that is to bring kindness to others and lend a helping hand whenever possible.

3. Do not be obsessed with material desires
I have to say that money is important because the cost of living in Singapore is rather high but we should be too obsessed with making money. The society defines success as the person who drives luxury cars, own luxury apartment, wear branded from head to toe and has lots of cash in the bank. However, before we aspire to reach that "successful" level, we should ask ourselves this, "Will we be happier if we have the big cars, the houses and the money?" The question is not will we be happy but will we be happier, much happier if we have all these material possessions? If we are already happy with what we have, should we still strive towards this target and make ourselves unhappy if we don't accomplish our goals? The pursuit of the material desires is never ending and often people who are chasing this dream get sucked into a vicious cycle of greed and unhappiness. When we achieve our first million dollars, we want more, we are unhappy with one million dollars so we set the next target of two million dollars. When we have two million dollars, we think how nice would it be if we have three million dollars. The greed of human nature will keep us wanting for more. In the end, we will never be happy because what we have is always never enough to satisfy our wants. The question boils down to how much do we really need. If we only need ten thousand dollars, why do we want to set a high target of one million dollars? I believe in fulfilling our basic needs and setting a contingency sum for rainy days, the rest of our time and effort can be spent on doing something more meaningful. Also, people barely remember you for how rich you are because there will always be someone richer out there. The best gift that we can pass to others is the happy memories we created for them, the moments we touch their lives with kindness and love, not how much money we have given them.

4. Don't compare yourself with others.
I feel that people will be unhappy if they compare themselves to others who are better off in some aspect. We can admire someone for their talents but should not make ourselves any worse off by measuring up against them. We must be ourselves and love ourselves for who we are and not be unhappy with what we don't have or are not. It is easy to be envy that someone has a job that is more well paid and less stressful, having a spouse who is more attractive or rich parents who can splurge on them, but bear in mind that no one is perfect or leads a perfect life. What we are seeing may only be the superficial side of things but they could have their issues in life to deal with. By comparing ourselves with people who are better off in some ways, we are making ourselves unhappy. You never know that the same person might envy you for something that he/ she doesn't have. The way to find happiness is to be happy with what you already have and make the best out of it. Not comparing with others saves us much worries and unhappiness.

5. Be positive
Staying positive about life is one of the most important attitude that one must have to be happy. The obstacles and issues in life can make or break you, it really depends on how you see them and how much you want to learn from them. Being positive means that you can focus on the solution rather than the problem and you will solve the problem faster instead of approaching it with a negative mindset. Waking up every morning for work can be a dreadful feeling but it can also be a happy feeling for the positive person who feels blessed to be given another day to do the things that he/ she enjoys. When the going gets tough, it is important to approach issues with a positive mindset because negativity breed more negativity and vice versa.

6. Have a purpose in life
We should aspire to find our purpose in life and live life to the fullest. The saddest thing that can happen is to look back when we are in our old age and have regrets about the things we should have done when we have the chance, time and energy to do so. Also, we should not going through motion in life; studies, work, career, family planning, retirement are what most people go through and it seems like that is how life should be. However, while going through these stages in life, we have to find meaning and fulfillment in the things we do, otherwise we are really doing it for the sake of doing or following what others define as the norm. I can be going through these stages happily if I find meaning and purpose in the things I do while I can drag my feet through these stages because I do not find any significant purpose in doing the things that others think I should be doing.

7. Love yourself
There is time to work hard and there is time for rewards. Loving oneself is as important as loving others. If we are hard on ourselves and can't bear to spend any money to reward ourselves, then we can't be happy. I am not advocating the other extreme of splurging but we should love ourselves more and give ourselves a good treat every now and then. Some ways of loving oneself include buying yourself a nice gift, treating yourself to good food and engaging in enjoyable activities like going on a holiday, never mind the money spent but to keep the activities in moderation. The miser may be happy that he is accumulating a lot of money in the bank but he is likely to lead an unhappy life if he watches every spending closely, to the extent of sacrificing his happiness just to save up the money. Other than spending the money to pamper ourselves, it doesn't harm to remind ourselves once in a while that we are proud of who we are because we have worked hard, helped others and are useful members of the society.

Update of My Kindness Diary

It has been almost 2.5 months since PARK started on 22 September 2013 and I am really thankful for all the support and positive responses that our kind friends have given us. Thank you for all the likes on our Facebook Page for the articles, quotes and photos posted. Thank you guys for coming on board the ARK as we sail along this lifelong voyage of spreading kindness to anyone who needs it, and making the world a better place for everyone to live in.

I would like to share with you some of the acts of kindness that I have done since my last update. Hopefully, they provide good reference to you and can inspire you to do an act or two:

• Gave words of encouragement to a friend who was feeling down
• Reminded someone that he had forgotten about his umbrella as he was leaving
• Helped an auntie picked up her purse after she dropped it
• Helped a couple take a photo
• Returned trays and plates after consuming my meals
• Gave my friends a treat over breakfast
• Helped a family take a group photo
• Offered my last piece of tissue to a friend
• Offered to top up drinks for my friends
• Volunteered to take on some ad hoc duties to help out in a running event
• Held the door for my friends to enter a room first
• Shared my food with a friend
• Helped a friend make some DIY cushions for his shoes using tissue paper as he was having abrasion on his ankle
• Gave my seat to a lady so she could sit with her daughter
• Brought a family member for shopping despite feeling unwell
• Donated money to help Typhoon Haiyan victims
• Helped to grab the attention of the cashier for a lady who was seeking help
• Allowed someone to exit the station first after she was stuck waiting the queue to clear
• Donated extra money to a charity organization selling greeting cards when making payment
• Chipped in some money for a colleague who fell sick
• Bought tissue paper from an intellectually disabled man and gave him extra money
• Gave directions to someone in the train station
• Provided information to a visually impaired man on the bus
• Gave advice and guidance to a fellow colleague
• Helped a family member make copies of a travel video
• Offered advice to a family member on relationship issues
• Wrote a letter of compliment for a friend
• Made space for more passengers to board in a crowded last train
• Pressed the lift open button for other passengers to exit the lift first
• Took a leaflet from a lady handing out leaflets in the MRT station to lessen her workload
• Raised awareness for ongoing initiative and charitable drives
• Encouraged my family member to save the snails which crawled out of the grass patch but putting them back into the grass patch

I always believed that giving kindness can change someone who received our kindness for the better. I come to realize that, at the same time, giving kindness is also changing ourselves for the better.

Dealing with Unkind People

I like to share 2 unpleasant incidents and my thoughts on them. The first incident happened when I asked a shopkeeper on where to locate a particular product and she answered in a very impatient and rude manner. The 2nd incident happened when I was in the lift with some neighbors living in the same block. The lift door opened before the ground level and a little boy ran out. A kind man chased after him and brought him back. I thought it would be nice to move in a little so that they have space to come into the lift. I did not realize I was invading into the space of an elderly lady and she got irritated by that and started ranting at me. The mother of the boy, who knew the elderly lady, tried to explained that I did not realize her presence and the lift was crowded. That did not stop her as she continued venting her frustration until we reached ground level.

My initial reactions to both incidents were negative and defensive. An instinctive part of me wanted to get even with them because I thought that I was totally undeserving of such treatment, especially when I have done nothing wrong to them. However, in both occasions, I chose to calm myself down and move away and then move on. I feel that sometimes, the best reaction to any form of negativity is to ignore them and not try to get even. This is because by into any argument/ disputes/ quarrels with these angry folks, we are sucked into the vicious cycle of negativity. Soon, we will be hurling abuse to one another and make our day even more miserable. After that, we tend to share this unhappy experience with our friends, loved ones, and when we do so, we refresh our memory on the confrontation again, reminding ourselves of the unhappiness and making us feel angry and unhappy again. When this becomes a habit, we get sucked into another vicious cycle whenever someone did something unpleasant to us.

I feel that a better approach is to ignore these people who are unkind to us and not get into any confrontation with them. When we move away and calm ourselves down, we can better understand why some people react in a certain way. For the shopkeeper who was rude, she could be having a bad day and the weather was really hot that day so it might have contributed to her bad mood. For the elderly lady who was reacting very negatively, she could be overly concerned about protecting her health (physical) and wanted to prevent an incident from happening, e.g. me stepping on her toes. Whatever the case, not reacting to the negativity stops the negativity there, it does not evolve into something more unpleasant. Also, not reacting is not a sign of weakness or cowardice, it is sign of sensibility and maturity. We cannot control how others think or how others react, but we certainly can control how we think or react to their actions. Understanding this fact makes a world of difference.

Lastly, these 2 incidents did not affect me much because I choose not to let them affect me negatively. They did not derail my motivation to spread kindness and influence others to do good. In fact, I am more determined to do so after these incidents because it is evident that kindness is clearly lacking in some ways. If we can show more kindness to others, perhaps we will be more patient and tolerant towards others, even when we feel intruded in some ways. If we choose kindness over getting even with others, we are likely to feel happier and achieve inner peace. Don't focus on the negativity, move on, be kind and help others, you definitely will feel better than dwelling on the unhappy stuff.

We can all lead a happier life, the choice is ours.